retty nearly all parts of the West--and
that from a woman's point of view. Believe me the days of "shootin'
irons" and "faintin' females" are forever past, except in the
undergraduate's salad dreams. You are safer in the cave dwellings of the
Stone Age, in the Pajarito Plateau of the cliff "bird people," in the
Painted Desert, among the Indians of the Navajo Reserve than you are in
Broadway, New York, or Piccadilly, London. I would trust a young friend
of mine--boy or girl--quicker to the Western environment than the
Eastern. You can get into mischief in the West if you hunt for it; but
the mischief doesn't come out and hunt you. Also, danger spots are
self-evident on precipices of the Western wilds. They aren't
self-evident; danger spots are glazed and paved to the edges over which
youth goes to smash in the East.

* * * * *

What about cost? Aye, there's the rub!

First, there's the steamboat ticket to Europe, about the same price as
or more than the average round trip ticket to the Coast and back;
but--please note, please note well--the agent who sells the steamboat
ticket gets from forty to 100 per cent. bigger commission on it than the
agent who sells the railroad tickets; so the man who is an agent for
Europe can afford to advertise from forty to 100 per cent. more than the
man who sells the purely American ticket.

Secondly, European hotel men are adepts at catering to the lure of the
American sightseer. (Of course they are: it's worth one hundred to two
hundred million dollars to them a year.) In the American West, everybody
is busy. Except for the real estate man, they don't care one iota
whether you come or stay.

Thirdly, when you go to Europe, a thousand hands are thrust out to point
you the way to the interesting places. Incidentally, also, a thousand
hands are thrust out to pick your pocket, or at least relieve it of any
superfluous weight. In our West, who cares a particle what you do; or
who will point you the way? The hotels are expensive and for the most
part located in the most expensive zone--the commercial center. It is
only when you get out of the expense zone away from commercial centers
and railway, that you can live at $1 or $2 a day, or if you have your
own tent at fifty cents a day; but it isn't to the real estate agent's
interests to have you go away from the commercial center or expense
zone. Who is there to tell you what or where to see off the line of he